Never has a show strived so hard to be average. It has an interesting setup that is wasted, plus a sci-fi schtick that breaks its own rules by ep 2. And not since Geoffrey in Game of Thrones, has there been someone so deserving of being killed off early, than Becca. She is a truly horrible character with a barely capable actress. Even the ex-CIA guy looks like an average composite of what you'd expect.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Ted Lasso
(2020–2023)
Season 1 great, season 2 went dark.
3 October 2021
Season 1 is everything you could want. It's happy, fun, funny and enjoyable. Season two goes dark. There is a tendency for shows to think they need to take a lovable character and give them some awful trait for the sake of "character development." Or change the fundamentals of a character to give them depth. Battlestar Galactica did it with Apollo, taking a good character and making him a jerk. Ted Lasso does the same. Ted is Pollyanna in the first season. It's wonderful. As everything goes wrong around him, he remains constant, upbeat and unshakable in his beliefs and attitude.
And then there's season 2. He's a National Championship Coach before, but now crumbles with panic attacks, gets mad, has dark thoughts, and abandons a lot of that always positive attitude that the first season Ted likable. There is a whole divorce theme which is like an anchor on the season. They do the same with Nate, the kit manager turned coach, who is shy and unconfident, and then becomes a jealous, vengeful and power hungry jerk.
There is still a lot of great stuff, Roy Kent, Keeley, and any pub scene. But the thing about a tv comedy is that it's supposed to be fun. Season 1 is. Season 2 has its moments, but the fun of season 1 isn't there. .
And then there's season 2. He's a National Championship Coach before, but now crumbles with panic attacks, gets mad, has dark thoughts, and abandons a lot of that always positive attitude that the first season Ted likable. There is a whole divorce theme which is like an anchor on the season. They do the same with Nate, the kit manager turned coach, who is shy and unconfident, and then becomes a jealous, vengeful and power hungry jerk.
There is still a lot of great stuff, Roy Kent, Keeley, and any pub scene. But the thing about a tv comedy is that it's supposed to be fun. Season 1 is. Season 2 has its moments, but the fun of season 1 isn't there. .
Without Remorse
(II) (2021)
Shockingly awful.
1 May 2021
As said in other reviews, this strays very far from the source material. John Clark is now John Kelly, Jim Greer is now Karen Greer, which is good, because the original characters are now not sullied by the taint of this festering tur.... They do make Karen, Jim's niece. Michael B. Jordan, who is ordinarily good in anything, is almost emotionless and wooden, even mourning his wife and baby is momentary and unbelievable. Watch it, then rewind and imagine him on the toilet making that same face and noise while having an uncomfortable bowel movement. They are interchangeable. Jodie Turner Smith, ordinarily gorgeous and good, delivers every line like she's either reading it for the first time, or channeling Don King touting "double shock power" (which, FYI, is way more entertaining, look it up on YouTube.) She can't even order someone to take a drink without it sounding boring, and almost childish. She has no energy, no emotion, and is easily the weakest part of an already weak movie. Her agent must be legendary to get her acting roles after this. There was more emotion in the dead behind the eyes twins in "Valerian." Jamie Bell and Guy Pierce are underutilized, and one dimensional. The action pieces are boring, predictable, and at times unbelievably stupid. Like setting a Russian Ambassador's car on fire, and then climbing in it to talk. Even the ending and "twist" are predictable. It takes a well thought out Tom Clancy book, and makes it a modern Blaxploitation revenge flick set against a minor political backdrop. Actually I wish it was blaxploitation, it might have been better with Rudy Ray Moore.
Creed
(II) (2015)
10 out of 10 Stars.
17 January 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I am a tough critic of the Rocky movies, and movies in general. I'm not even a boxing fan. But I can say that this is by far, the best of the Rocky series, and the cast and crew killed it.
Donnie "Hollywood" Johnson, played by Michael B. Jordan, is the son of the late Apollo Creed, who died in the ring before Donnie was born, before he was acknowledged by his father. His mother died early on his life as well, and Donnie comes to know one thing in his life, anger. When the son of his father's trainer refuses to train Donnie, he seeks out Rocky Balboa, former champion, to help him train.
Along the way, he also meets and falls in love with Bianca, a singer and musician, who is gradually losing her hearing, which will someday rob her of her true passion, music.
There are many themes running through Creed, family, anger, legacies, and following your heart, but they all give Donnie an unexpected depth of character that usually these types of movies miss out on. It was easily to believe in the original Rocky that he was looking for his one shot at greatness. Here, the shot at greatness, honoring his father's name, and legacy, are merely the subplot. As Rocky tells him early on, it's about facing the toughest opponent, the guy in the mirror.
Sylvester Stallone can really act. Yes, it's a role he's played before, and knows how to play it in his sleep, but there's a freshness to the role, and spirit that Stallone has never shown in the other Rocky films, and with his cancer, there is a vulnerability that he had always attempted to show in his scenes with Adrian, but finally shows when he breaks down and talks to Donnie about why he doesn't want to fight his cancer. I actually want to see Stallone in more dramatic roles after this.
Creed is an amazing movie, Stallone almost brings tears as a dying Balboa, Jordan proves he has the acting depth and the action credibility to pull off this role, and carry it into sequels. And if the fight scenes in the final act don't get you hyped, you have no soul. When the Rocky music starts and Donnie comes out to fight, my audience stood and cheered like it was a real fight.
Ryan Coogler, who directed and co-wrote, knocked this one out of the park. There should have been Oscar's, there should have been a lot of them. The performances are outstanding, the cinematography is a brilliant modern take on the original Rocky's look and feel, but yet better than the original. The Rocky legacy is in very good hands under Ryan Coogler, who also directed the underrated and severely overlooked "Fruitville Station." Coogler, Jordan, and Tessa Thompson (Bianca) all have brilliant futures ahead of them, and Creed will go down as a classic. I can't wait for the sequel.
Donnie "Hollywood" Johnson, played by Michael B. Jordan, is the son of the late Apollo Creed, who died in the ring before Donnie was born, before he was acknowledged by his father. His mother died early on his life as well, and Donnie comes to know one thing in his life, anger. When the son of his father's trainer refuses to train Donnie, he seeks out Rocky Balboa, former champion, to help him train.
Along the way, he also meets and falls in love with Bianca, a singer and musician, who is gradually losing her hearing, which will someday rob her of her true passion, music.
There are many themes running through Creed, family, anger, legacies, and following your heart, but they all give Donnie an unexpected depth of character that usually these types of movies miss out on. It was easily to believe in the original Rocky that he was looking for his one shot at greatness. Here, the shot at greatness, honoring his father's name, and legacy, are merely the subplot. As Rocky tells him early on, it's about facing the toughest opponent, the guy in the mirror.
Sylvester Stallone can really act. Yes, it's a role he's played before, and knows how to play it in his sleep, but there's a freshness to the role, and spirit that Stallone has never shown in the other Rocky films, and with his cancer, there is a vulnerability that he had always attempted to show in his scenes with Adrian, but finally shows when he breaks down and talks to Donnie about why he doesn't want to fight his cancer. I actually want to see Stallone in more dramatic roles after this.
Creed is an amazing movie, Stallone almost brings tears as a dying Balboa, Jordan proves he has the acting depth and the action credibility to pull off this role, and carry it into sequels. And if the fight scenes in the final act don't get you hyped, you have no soul. When the Rocky music starts and Donnie comes out to fight, my audience stood and cheered like it was a real fight.
Ryan Coogler, who directed and co-wrote, knocked this one out of the park. There should have been Oscar's, there should have been a lot of them. The performances are outstanding, the cinematography is a brilliant modern take on the original Rocky's look and feel, but yet better than the original. The Rocky legacy is in very good hands under Ryan Coogler, who also directed the underrated and severely overlooked "Fruitville Station." Coogler, Jordan, and Tessa Thompson (Bianca) all have brilliant futures ahead of them, and Creed will go down as a classic. I can't wait for the sequel.
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